Iuze Mukube
Former fisheries minister Mac-Albert Hengari told the court this week the myriad of allegations against him stem from a failed extortion attempt and a deliberate setup.
Hengari, who is in custody facing charges of defeating the course of justice and fraud, made this claim on Tuesday during his formal bail hearing before Windhoek Magistrate Monica Andjaba.
He strongly denied having, on any occasion, attempted to pay the 21-year-old rape complainant an amount of N$222 000 to withdraw an alleged rape case against him.
“I have nothing to hide. My intent was to help the police to arrive at the truth in a timely manner,” he said.
He also said he only came to know of the complainant in 2021, not in 2019 as suggested by the State.
Additionally, Hengari stated that his financial records would clearly show that he only began assisting the complainant financially after meeting her in 2021 and not before.
Hengari said prior to the rape accusations circulating on social media, the complainant had called him and told him she was going to Canada and demanded that he pays for the trip.
“I ignored her and she told me that I would see and that not even my darling wife would be able to assist me,” Hengari said.
He added that another individual, unknown to him, also reached out to him, saying he should pay for the mother and the baby’s trip to Canada or else they will tarnish his name on social media.
He allegedly refused to comply.
That was when the torrent of abuse on social media that he allegedly raped a minor and even brought a car for her began, he said.
Furthermore, he expressed suspicion that the rape case went nowhere at all in 2024, but that when he became a minister on 22 March 2025, other agendas came into play.
The meeting
On 30 March 2025, Hengari said he met Inspector General Joseph Shikongo on request concerning the rape allegations.
Then in mid-April, his co-accused called him, asking him if the allegations making rounds on social media were true.
Hengari says he made it clear to his co-accused that allegations were not true and requested if he and his family could resolve the matter amicably.
He claims, on 25 April 2025, the day before his arrest, the complainant reached out to him, but he was apprehensive because it had been reported that she was in a safe house and under police surveillance.
When they met, she told him that there is a police officer waiting to retract the case if he paid N$10 000 and even handed him a settlement agreement.
“I was told that if there is to be any case, it would be between me and the State, and if there is any settlement, it will still be between me and the State and that it was not a civil matter but a criminal one,” he said.
The morning of the arrest, Hengari, his co-accused, and the complainant agreed to meet at a law firm to engage on how to lawfully retract the case.
However, to Hengari’s surprise, the complainant did not show up, as she could allegedly not trust her brother and called that they meet elsewhere, at a restaurant.
When he drove to the back of the said restaurant, he found himself handcuffed and under arrest for allegedly bribing the complainant with N$222 000, Hengari recalled.
In reference to the term “nothing begets nothing,” he explained that there was no charge of rape against him on 26 April 2025, and since there was no rape charge then, there will be no rape charge now.
He expressed that he did not know whether the State by omission or commission is confusing the two sums of N$222 000 and N$200 as he only gave the complainant N$200 on 26 April 2025 as a fare to take a taxi to the law firm [Shikongo Law Chamber] and never gave her N$222 000.
“There is no single mention of the amount of N$220 000 for all these charges. The counting of the money by the media was in order to humiliate me,” he said.
The matter continues in court.
Photo: Heather Erdmann